G protein-coupled receptors of class A harness the energy of membrane potential to increase their sensitivity and selectivity.

The human genome contains about 700 genes of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) of class A; these seven-helical membrane proteins are the targets of almost half of all known drugs. In the middle of the helix bundle, crystal structures reveal a highly conserved sodium-binding site, which is connected with the extracellular side by a water-filled tunnel. This binding site contains a sodium ion in those GPCRs that are crystallized in their inactive conformations but does not in those GPCRs that are trapped in agonist-bound active conformations. The escape route of the sodium ion upon the inactive-to-active transition and its very direction have until now remained obscure. Here, by modeling the available experimental data, we show that the sodium gradient over the cell membrane increases the sensitivity of GPCRs if their activation is thermodynamically coupled to the sodium ion translocation into the cytoplasm but decreases it if the sodium ion retreats into the extracellular space upon receptor activation. The model quantitatively describes the available data on both activation and suppression of distinct GPCRs by membrane voltage. The model also predicts selective amplification of the signal from (endogenous) agonists if only they, but not their (partial) analogs, induce sodium translocation. Comparative structure and sequence analyses of sodium-binding GPCRs indicate a key role for the conserved leucine residue in the second transmembrane helix (Leu2.46) in coupling sodium translocation to receptor activation. Hence, class A GPCRs appear to harness the energy of the transmembrane sodium potential to increase their sensitivity and selectivity.